I have a team member from my property management company reaching out to me about a difficult‐to‐rent unit we manage in the Pennsport neighborhood of Philadelphia. It’s a great area, normally very rentable, but this particular property has been sitting vacant far longer than it ever should. The main issue has become painfully obvious: prospective tenants keep asking whether the owner would be willing to install a washer and dryer. The absence of those appliances is the single biggest reason the unit isn’t renting.
One thing I’ve learned as a rental property owner and property management company owner is that every market has its own tenant expectations. What might not matter in one city could be a deal-breaker in another. In Philadelphia, especially in nicer neighborhoods like this one, tenants expect a washer and dryer. If the expectation exists, then as a landlord you should absolutely meet or exceed it.
This particular owner refuses to provide the appliances, even though the house is full-sized and already has a dedicated space for them. He’s convinced a tenant will eventually come along who is willing to bring their own machines or do without, but even if that happens, it won’t solve the real problem. The next time the tenant moves out, we’ll be right back where we started: struggling to fill the vacancy because the property doesn’t meet basic market expectations. It’s a repeating cycle of unnecessarily long vacancies.
The owner worries about the cost of buying and maintaining appliances, but the bigger cost he’s ignoring is vacancy. Appliances break, they need repairs, but the financial hit from prolonged vacancy is far more damaging. In my company, we refer to this as the “per-day vacancy penalty.” The median rent of the properties we manage translates to about $78 a day in lost income every single day a property sits empty. Most owners know vacancy is expensive, but they don’t always grasp just how expensive until they see the numbers add up. Ten days of vacancy is already $780 gone. This problematic property has been vacant far longer than that, costing him many multiples of what it would take to simply buy the washer and dryer.
My whole team has become fixated on this property because it’s such an outlier for us. We normally don’t struggle this hard to place a good tenant. But without the amenities tenants expect, we’re fighting an uphill battle that we shouldn’t have to fight.
As a landlord, you always need to study your market. Look at comparable rental listings. See what amenities everyone else is offering. In Philadelphia, most rentals include water, and interestingly, our tenants don’t push back when we require them to pay it themselves. Utilities can be flexible. But appliances and essential amenities? Those are non-negotiable in the eyes of most tenants.
At the end of the day, I’m just a humble Philadelphia property management company owner trying to help investors avoid simple, costly mistakes. Pay attention to your market, meet tenant expectations, and as always, happy rental property investing.
